[VeritatisSplendor]

I'm certain he has no idea how big a role he has played in my life despite his absence -- or because of his absence. If I can't be too attached to him as my father, I'll still always be attached to the feeling I now have of having a father.

I feel more whole now than I ever have. I love our conversations, even the most trivial ones. I don't love him, and I don't know if I ever will, but I care about him a lot.

Now that he knows I exist, I'm okay if he doesn't care for me in the same way. But I hope he at least thinks of me sometimes.

From the article. Sad.

Mrs VS

[NYer]

Now that he knows I exist, I'm okay

This is the most tragic aspect of children raised without Fathers. As a young child, I had a 'father figure' in my grandfather who was father to my 'uncle' (only 2 years older than me. We lived in an extended family). But I so desperately wanted a father of my own! At night, I would pray to our Lord and ask Him to be my Father. When I was 5, my mother took me to Rome and told me to pick out a souvenir. I chose a 2' plaster cast statue of the Sacred Heart which we eventually transported back to the US. Each time we moved (about 10 times), that statue was lovingly packed up. Eventually, it simply fell apart from its poor construction.

At age 8, my mother married and I was adopted by her husband. That fulfilled the dream of having a father but generated a new dilemna as he has never been baptized into any faith.

We live in such a convoluted world. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus have mercy on these fatherless children!